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The voters of Washington State have joined Colorado in legalizing marijuana. The Seattle Times is projecting that Initiative 502 will win approval in the state. With 50 percent reporting, the initiative leads 55.5 percent Yes to 44.5 percent No.
Initiative 502 will make it legal under state law for adults age 21 and over to have up to an ounce of marijuana. It would also create a system to tax and regulate the commercial sale of marijuana. According to the State Office of Financial Management, the new excise tax on marijuana could generate roughly half a billion dollars of new revenue annually for the state.
Having two states legalize marijuana this year is a huge victory for the marijuana reform movement. It shows in the clearest way possible that large segments of the America electorate believe marijuana prohibition is a wasteful and damaging policy that must end.
This is truly a historic night.
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oregon’s measure lost:
Congratulations Washingtonians!
Remember, Obama was opposed to marriage equality until he saw how the political winds were blowing, then he finally decided to get on board. He has four years to do the same with marijuana reform.
I’m feeling exceedingly proud and fortunate to live here in Washington State, and being able to help afford the chance for this long-needed change to the status quo to succeed.
This will likely not be a completely easy transition, but certainly worth it.
May it come soon for all others who wish it.
I have no idea how accurate Business Insider is, but they say it Romney is about to give a concession speech
We legalized marijuana and we approved marriage rights for everyone! I’m still waiting to see if we did the right thing on Charter Schools (no) and taxes (not making it require super majorities for the legislature to raise them.)
Bus insider got it right..Thats now confirmed Romney called Obama to concede
Thank you, Jon and everyone here at this site that put so much work into the succeesses seen tonight. It’s really awesome to see things turning the way they are. Great job.
Stupid Oregon pot dealers starved the campaign, not wanting their profits cut into.
Will Oibomber arrest the states of Washington and Colorado? How will the Feds deal with this? Especially if it culminates in massive sales and tax revenues.
Will Holder attempt to nip this in the bud?
The Powers That Be (The Fed and its friends, the narco trafficantes) will do all they can to make this fail. They can’t let legal MJ come to glory. If allowed, it will come to glory – revenue generation in a down economy? We can’t have that.
Austerity and Grand Bargains and endless war is their way.
Congratulations to the people of Washington and Colorado; this was a vote for sanity. The big, ugly boot of the Obama administration is going to come right in and stomp all over it, of course, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone. The fight must continue.
Now these were historic votes! Great news!
Onto resisting the regressive policy of the Obama/Holder’s DOJ.
Objection. Irrelevant.